This invention relates to a handle assembly for use with surgical instruments, such as broaches and tamps.
Handles are used to hold surgical instruments such as broaches to allow them to be impacted. The handle holds the instrument rigidly in order to impart control on the movement of the instrument. The use of a handle which is detachable from the instrument has the advantage that one handle can be used for a range of sizes of instruments. This is particularly useful when the instruments are broaches and a succession of instruments must be used, each instrument increasing incrementally in size.
During surgical procedures, a mixture of blood and human tissue inevitably finds its way into small places in a handle and can dry to form a glue-type mixture and become a bio-hazard. Therefore, it is essential that any handle can be easily and effectively cleaned between operations to ensure that mechanisms in the handle do not become clogged and jammed and also, more importantly, that all tissue is removed to stop cross-contamination.